New/First House...Need Gun Stuff

[ASH556]

I just bought my first real house! My wife owned a townhouse when we got married, so I moved in there and have lived there since college, but now I have a garage, yard, bonus room (read: room for guns/gun stuff). Now that I have a place to keep my stuff, I need some. Here's the deal, I work at a Gun Shop part-time for ammo money, and so any cleaning/maintenance I have done in the past was either on the shop bench or with my crappy steel rod 3pc universal cleaning kit on the living room floor.

Weapons I'll need to clean:
AR
.308 Remington Bolt gun (Precision)
12GA shotgun
.410 shotgun
.22lr
9mm Glock
1911 45ACP

Let's pretend I know absolutely nothing about gun cleaning/maintenance. If you were starting from scratch, what would you get? Do you go the OTIS route? Just buy a nice Dewey rod and a bunch of brushes?

Also, now that I'm done saving for my house, I want to take some formal training. It seems like a good idea to take some cleaning/maintenance stuff with me to a class/competition. Is there a smaller field kit, or do you take the good stuff with you from home?

I'm concerned about using the segmented rod in any of my guns, but especially the Remington.

What's the goods? Thanks guys and great site (7 year ARFCOMMER)

[SouthPark]

I use only coated rods the correct length/size for the barrel along with a pointed jag properly sized for the bore, and I buy good gear from Midway such as Dewey but there are several who make nice rods and jags for gun cleaning. I use an action cleaner spray sometimes on actions and wipe them off. Then I work on the barrel and cylinders gently with bronze brushes if necessary (but often isn't) and then use a pretty potent cleaner. Sweet's or something like it. For lube I use Tetra or Slip EWL. I never oil the barrel unless I am storing it, but I live in Colorado where things don't rust unless they get wet. For shotguns I use an Outer's Tico Tool mop which is just amazing at removing plastic residue. At least as important at picking a good lube is knowing the places to apply it.

If you don't have one, buy a decent safe for your collection.

That's my 2 cents.

[BBossman]

Various caliber BoreSnakes, old tooth brushes and FP10

[kartoffel]

First off, you'll need a proper MAN CAVE to do your gun stuff. I'd set aside an area in the garage or the den or something, so that you won't ever have to clean guns on the living room floor again

My old standbys are: Eezox, Kroil, Ballistol, foaming bore cleaner, Mobil 1, and grease.

[stifled]

Whatever you do, claim a room and fill it with your stuff as quickly as possible. Once it is a firmly established fact that it is your room to do with as you please, set it up however you want. If you leave an unused room unclaimed or unused long enough, it will end up being a "sitting room" or a "formal living room" or some other made-up nonsense.

More on topic... I like bore snakes, I like the Otis system, I like rods and jags... As long as you use them properly you'll be just fine. I have bore snakes in .22 and .30 since they will clean most of my guns, an Otis that came with one of my guns that I only use on that gun, and a 'traditional' rod that I use for everything else since it's the most adaptable.

[ASH556]

Bore Snake seems like a good way to go for semi-auto .22's to avoid cleaning from muzzle end, but I've heard that they're only good for one pass, otherwise you're just dragging the dirt back through the bore. True?

[aspiderfreak]

Whatever you do, claim a room and fill it with your stuff as quickly as possible. Once it is a firmly established fact that it is your room to do with as you please, set it up however you want. If you leave an unused room unclaimed or unused long enough, it will end up being a "sitting room" or a "formal living room" or some other made-up nonsense.

QFT!


For safes, if you decide to save for a high quality one, take a peek at the Pendleton safes. It's what I'm saving for.

http://www.pendletonsafes.com/

[300WM]

First off, you'll need a proper MAN CAVE to do your gun stuff. I'd set aside an area in the garage or the den or something, so that you won't ever have to clean guns on the living room floor again

My old standbys are: Eezox, Kroil, Ballistol, foaming bore cleaner, Mobil 1, and grease.

Or the dining room table. Your wife probably won't appreciate the cloudy spots bore cleaner makes on the finish. Trust me on this.

[skyugo]

i love bore snakes for handguns. For rifles, (especially hunting rifles or anything you'd consider "precision") a good one piece steel cleaning rod is the way to go. For AR's and AK's with chromed bores a bore snake is a good way to go though.

if there's any gear at work that you find makes working on your guns easier, i'd pick that up too. You probably get a nice discount on accessories there right?

[goneballistic]

I'd get bore snakes for most of those and call it good. maybe a good coated rod for the rifles.

I own all of them including the otis system. That thing is cool looking and seemed like a good thing to throw in the bad but it's a huge PITA to use. tips unscrew, threading it down bores etc. it's OK but not easy to do.

bore snakes basically do the same thing a lot easier. some good gun cleaner, lubricant, bore snakes and maybe the coated rod and you're good.